Amherst is committed to providing transfer opportunities for high-achieving community college students with limited financial resources. Since partnering with the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation in 2006, Amherst has become a national leader among highly selective colleges in offering exceptional academic and scholarship options to community college students. Our need-blind admission and need-based, no-loan financial aid policies make Amherst a particularly attractive and affordable school.

Over the past five years, Amherst has accepted more than 90 community college students.

Approximately 50% of our transfer students previously attended community college.

Nearly 100% of our community college transfer students are receiving need-based financial aid. The average scholarship grant for transfer students in Fall 2016 exceeds $53,000.

Amherst takes great pride in our ability to attract an exceptionally talented and diverse student body. We know our success hinges on our outreach to aspiring students from secondary schools and community colleges across the country and throughout the world and on our long-standing, generous financial aid policies that make it possible for students from every socioeconomic background to afford an Amherst education.

—Katie Fretwell, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid

Community College Transfer Application Guidelines

Community college students should apply as all transfer applicants do, submitting the Transfer Common Application and Amherst’s Supplement to the Transfer Common Application, along with other supporting materials.

Why Colleen O’Connor ’11 transferred to Amherst

Colleen O’Connor is from Westhampton, Mass. She came to Amherst as a transfer student through the college’s Community College Transfer Initiative, a program funded by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. In an article published in Amherst Magazine, Colleen expresses her gratitude to the donors who have made her Amherst education possible and discusses how Amherst has helped her realize her goals for the future.